参谋 (cān móu) — staff officer; to give advice

Definition

As a noun, 参谋 means 'staff officer' (a military/advisory role), not just any advisor; as a verb, 'to give advice', more professional than the everyday 忠告.

staff officerto give advice

Measure word · 个

Examples

参谋。
Nǐ bāng wǒ cān móu yí xià zhè ge jì huà.
Give me some advice on this plan.
参谋。
Zhè wèi cān móu zài jūn duì gōng zuò le hěn duō nián.
This staff officer has worked in the military for many years.
参谋。
Qǐng gěi wǒ men cān móu yí xià xīn de fāng àn.
Please give us some advice on the new proposal.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

参cāntake part

谋móuplan

参 and 谋 together mean taking part in planning, hence a staff officer or advice.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 參; 参 is its simplified writing.

晶晶jīngstars
光光guānglight; brightness
彡彡shānlight rays

For simplified 参, the story belongs to traditional 參, which combines 晶 (stars), 光 (light), and 彡 (rays) to show the Three Stars; one reading takes 光 as a kneeling person looking up.

Open 参 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 謀; 谋 is its simplified writing.

言某謀

Meaning part形符xíngfú

言言yán

Sound part声符shēngfú

某

某mǒu謀móu

Same sound today

The traditional form 謀 uses 言 to show it relates to speech and 某 to show its sound; the simplified 谋 is a later shorthand.

Open 谋 →